This was brought home even more clearly to Hays when his thirty-one year old daughter posted on her Facebook page that she was considering altering the vaccine schedule for her son, because of what she’d observed after a previous vaccination.  Many of his daughter’s friends attacked her on Facebook and a sister-in-law told her to never bring her children to her house.

In the course of producing Doctored, Hays realized that the issues of genetically modified foods, pharmaceutical drugs, and vaccines were all concerns of the chiropractic community.  And underneath it all was the concern of how these industries lacked effective oversight and regulation.  How could one tell if the science was valid if the companies which were selling these products were paying for the research?  Who represented the interest of the public in this discussion?

Hays understands that each one of these issues could be the subject of a separate documentary, but felt that if he did that, “each would have played to their individual audiences.”  While Hays knows the subject of vaccines is likely to provoke the most controversy, he wants to get the most qualified experts on camera discussing these concerns.  While the film is close to completion, Hays needs an additional $20,000 to take a camera crew over to Rome to interview Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Collaboration about the safety and effectiveness of the flu vaccine.

“The flu vaccine is the perfect entry point into this discussion,” says Hays.  “The information that the CDC releases says the flu vaccine reduces all-cause mortality by 50%.  When you unpack that statement, the flu vaccine reduces death by plane crash by 50%, death by electric shock by 50%, death from tumbling off the roof by 50%.  Apparently, the best thing you can do to reduce your chances of getting cancer, or getting into a car wreck, is to get a flu shot.”

Hays continues, “The absurdity that somebody who’s been through medical school will blindly repeat that statement, shows how thoroughly they’ve indoctrinated this group.”  Hays believes this discussion is important especially now, given that many medical professionals are facing mandates that they must get the flu vaccine or risk losing their jobs.

Another revelation which was startling to Hays was when autism activists showed him more than 150 cases in which the federal Vaccine Court had awarded damages to children for vaccine-injuries which included autism. 

“You’re sitting next to a mother and her 20 year-old son wearing a seizure helmet and a diaper, who was damaged when he was six months old, that his pediatrician said was a cut and dried case of vaccine injury.  Everybody agreed, all the medical people in her life agreed, she’s a Ph.D. in neuropsychology and her husband has two masters degrees.  It still took almost seven years for them to win.  The court found and pays for this child’s autism treatment, for eight million dollars between the lump sum settlement and his lifetime care.  To have the gall to sit across from her and say, no, you’re uninformed, you don’t know what you’re talking about.  Vaccines don’t cause autism.  How could you set your mouth to say that to her?”

Hays says, “Our goal isn’t to convert everybody.  Our goal is to prove it’s not a shut case and we need to pay attention to these people.  We’ve built a really smart, kind-hearted film.  This is not a flame-throwing, the other side are all idiots kind of movie.  My target is a 31 year-old woman who’s wondering how do I do what's right for my children?  If we can wake up that beast, it’s the most powerful force in nature.”

While Hays and his team have hit their $40,000 goal for their current Indiegogo campaign they’ve been running, they need an additional $20,000 to get their crew to Rome to interview the Cochrane Collaboration about the flu vaccine.  Any money raised beyond that will go towards marketing of the film, which Hays views as essential to their success.

Hays concludes, “If we can break through to a certain level, and actually capture the public’s attention, they will not be able to unring that bell.  This film has the potential of being the first real main-stream effort, aimed not just at the autism community, or the GMO community, but to tie all of these issues together and get this larger group moving in the same direction.”

I encourage all of the readers of Age of Autism to support this effort by going to www.supportboughtmovie.com and donating whatever you can.